Etymologically
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prendere

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈprɛn.de.re/[1]

Forms

prendere (first-person singular present prèndo, first-person singular past historic prési, past participle préso, auxiliary avére or (also in the meaning "to happen unexpectedly") èssere)[1] Old Italian forms include pènre, prèndare, prèndre, prènere and prènnere, and an old past participle prenduto.[2] Older past historic forms are prendei and prendetti, and the old past participle priso.[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin prendere (“to seize, grasp”), the contracted form of prehendere.[5][6][7][3][1] The word is panromance: French prendre, Occitan penre, Catalan pendre, Spanish prender, Portuguese prender, Sardinian prendere (“to tie”), Dalmatian prendar and Romanian prinde.[6][8]

The Latin verb is a compound of prae- (“before”), and its second part is unclear to DELI.[5] Nocentini and de Vaan analyse it as a verb *hendō, not found without a prefix, from the root Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to grab”) with a nasal infix;[6][9][1] the closest cognates are Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō, “to hold, contain”) and Old Norse geta (“to get”), the source of English get.[6][9] praeda (“booty”), Italian preda, shares the root.[9][10] De Vaan follows Livingston in deriving the short form from contraction after preverbs: ⟨*prai-hend-⟩ became ⟨-prēnd-⟩ in compounds such as comprendere, and a new simple verb ⟨prēndere⟩ was taken from them.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Testimonianze di Travale of 1158, in the general sense “to take hold of, take with one, capture”: “Io de presi pane e vino” (I took bread and wine from it).[5][2] GRADIT gives the same date.[7]

Semantic evolution

From the first records the verb covered taking by hand, carrying off, capturing and believing.[5] The intransitive sense “to take root, catch on” is recorded before 1380 in Paganino Bonafè.[5] Tommaseo treats it as a synonym of pigliare, distinguished from it by the words that accompany it.[11]

Some phrases are modelled on other languages: DELI derives prendere il velo (to become a nun) from French prendre le voile (late 18th century), and prendere sonno (to fall asleep) repeats the Latin carpere somnum.[5] The compound prendisole, a very short summer outfit or sundress, is recorded in 1939, and prenditore, in banking the payee, in 1942.[5][6]

Timeline

  • 1158 – First record, in the Testimonianze di Travale.[5]
  • 1304–1308 – Dante uses prenditore “one who takes”.[5]
  • Before 1380 – Intransitive prendere “to take root” in Paganino Bonafè.[5]
  • 1728 – Prendibile “that can be taken” in Anton Maria Salvini.[5]
  • Late 18th century – French prendre le voile, the model of prendere il velo.[5]
  • 1939 – Prendisole is recorded.[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To take, take hold of, pick up with the hands or a tool: prendere il secchio per il manico.[7][3][12]
  2. To catch, capture, arrest; to conquer: la polizia ha preso i rapinatori, prendere una fortezza.[12][1]
  3. To take a means of transport or a road: prendo l'autobus delle otto, prendi la prima a sinistra.[12][1]
  4. To get, buy, order; to eat or drink: prendiamo un caffè?, prendere un antibiotico.[7][1]
  5. To catch an illness: ha preso l'influenza.[1][12]
  6. To take on a task or responsibility; to take a decision or measure.[1][7]
  7. To receive a signal or broadcast: qui il telefono non prende.[1]
  8. (figurative) To seize, of a feeling; to captivate: lo prese la nostalgia, un libro che ti prende.[12][1]
  9. (colloquial) prenderle, to get a beating.[1]
  10. (intransitive) To take root, set, catch fire; to turn in a direction.[5][7]

Word family

  • preso
  • presa
  • prendisole
  • prenditore
  • prendibile
  • apprendere
  • comprendere
  • riprendere
  • sorprendere
  • intraprendere
  • rapprendere
  • presame
  • presura

Usage notes

Among the many set phrases are prendere atto (to take note), prendere a cuore (to take to heart), prendere in giro (to tease), prendere il toro per le corna (to take the bull by the horns) and non sapere che pesci prendere (not to know which way to turn).[7][3][4] The auxiliary is avere, but essere in the sense “to happen unexpectedly”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 14
  3. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 343
  11. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse